Articles and postings for consumers who want to get the most out of their PCs using software from eSupport.com™, owned by Phoenix Technologies®. eSupport products include BIOSAgentPlus™, DriverAgent®, RegistryWizard™, UndeletePlus, and Phoenix Freeze™.

Friday, October 16, 2009

After Upgrading to Windows 7, Use DriverAgent™ to Keep Your PC in Top Shape

If you have decided to upgrade your computer to the new Windows® Version 7, now is a good time to whip your PC into top shape and keep it there. Every attachment and built-in accessory on your PC, such as the disc drive and WiFi link, needs a special piece of software called a driver. Windows uses these drivers to know exactly how to talk to and control your system hardware for maximum performance.

Unfortunately, the Windows 7 installation disc may not include the best available drivers (or indeed any drivers) for your specific system. The manufacturers of the accessories and attachments have to create the drivers, and they may not have sent their newest versions to Microsoft in time for distribution with Windows 7.

Also worth noting is that some manufacturers prefer to distribute drivers on CDs or on their support website and may not work through Microsoft at all. Indeed Microsoft’s Windows Update site has only a subset of the drivers most manufacturers recommend. In those cases, Windows 7 won’t install any drivers for that piece of hardware.

You will want the latest Windows 7-compatible drivers on your PC to get the most out of your system and to avoid problems. However, making certain you have them is a challenge. To be sure, you could to contact the vendors for every accessory in your PC (or search the Internet), determine if the driver you have needs to be updated, and then download and install the new version. That would be a very time consuming task.

Fortunately, there is a much easier way. Phoenix Technologies has created DriverAgent™ to automate this task for you. The program scans your computer to discover what drivers you need, and then checks an online database to determine if any updates are available. If there are, you can instruct DriverAgent to automatically download and install the updates.

By using DriverAgent after you have installed Windows 7, you can be assured that you are starting out with your PC at its best. Then, from time to time, run a DriverAgent scan to make sure all your device drivers stay up-to-date. This will help keep Windows 7 and your PC in top performing shape.